Bill to hide supplier of execution drugs scrapped

BATON ROUGE - A proposal to let the state corrections department hide information about the source of its execution drugs has been shelved, only one step from reaching final passage.

Metairie Rep. Joe Lopinto, the Republican who sponsored the bill, said Monday that he was scrapping his proposal, which already had received the backing of the House and Senate and awaited one last House vote.

Lopinto had said the changes would help Louisiana access the drugs to carry out its death penalty, since companies have stopped selling them for fear of attracting public condemnation.

But on Monday, Lopinto said he'd rather see what courts decide in other states to resolve concerns about getting the execution drugs instead of putting "a short-term fix" in place.